HPLHS News & Events Spring 2017

Live Events!

From time to time the HPLHS hosts live events at its global headquarters in Glendale, California. Click THIS LINK or the image above to see the current list of upcoming events.

Featured Member

• June 8, 2017

Our Member of the Month for June 2017 is Ryan Hörst of Hedgesville, West Virginia. Ryan is a highly decorated and active Lifetime Member of the Society, and very kindly sent us his handmade King In Yellow Journal to examine. Its ingenious flaps and hidden extras reminded us of the crime dossiers that Dennis Wheatley published in the 1930s, which have themselves inspired HPLHS prop document projects. And it made perfect sense when we learned how he got into Lovecraft in the first place:

"My foray into Lovecraft came more round-about than most other die-hard fans of his work, I would wager. While I read quite a bit growing up, my bookworm tendencies leaned towards the science-side of the fiction realm versus the horror for which Lovecraft was known. I was a nerd in the stereotypical sense – roleplaying (mostly Star Wars and D&D 3rd Ed.) and video games, comics, etc.

I remember in late 2002 while attending college being introduced to the new Wizards of the Coast d20 Modern table-top roleplaying game. I was utterly fascinated with their “Shadow Chasers” setting which involved a small band of “heroes” being aware that there are things beyond normal mortal comprehension, concealed by a supernatural veil, out there dwelling among the rest of humanity. That year, over Christmas break, my friends and I delved in to the setting and I was hooked. I had to know more about the influences behind this “shadow realm.”

Since I’m sure that the Mi-Go the Society has on retainer would drag the truth from me, I may as well confess that Robert E. Howard was where my initial research led me. As many know, Howard was a contemporary of Lovecraft, even contributing several of his own elements to the Cthulhu Mythos. Regardless, I soon thereafter discovered Lovecraft. As a roleplaying gamer, I love both of these authors for different reasons: Howard is excellent from a player’s perspective as most of his characters fight back against the darkness and often win, but Lovecraft is my preferred from a Dungeon Master’s perspective since normally it’s the antagonists that frequently consume the characters – either figuratively or literally.

As is often the case with people who run roleplaying games for their friends, creative writing is a side interest of mine. I spent a lot of my time while I was stationed with the Army in South Korea from 2007-2008 practicing my skills. Fast forward a few years. Christmas 2015, my mother-in-law sent me a most wonderful gift – an experience from The Mysterious Package Company titled The King in Yellow. Being the roleplaying nerd that I am, I decided to journal my experience “in character” as if this whole thing were real. I don’t think I can properly convey how much fun I had creating this journal (see picture). The most enjoyable part, though, was how it led me down a rabbit hole of research and connections to other authors. I took a few creative liberties and suggested some conspiracy theories of my own, but all highly plausible if one’s mind was being… influenced… by supernatural forces.

It was also at this time that I decided to join The Society as a life member in support of their mission. While I’ve never played a game of Cthulhu Lives!, I love that the whole point of The Society is “we thought it would be fun.” And having fun I am. I participated in my first “Secret Shoggoth” this past year and received a very nice thank you note from the recipient. I also have started my collection of DART performances to accompany my Mythoscope DVD copies of The Call of Cthulhu and The Whisperer in Darkness. I never thought I’d be a stamp collector, but I find myself trying to plot out how to acquire additional stamps for my membership passport. It’s addictive. My best friend’s wife grew up in Lovecraft’s home town of Providence, RI and her family has extended an open invitation for us to come visit. I think a pilgrimage is in order. I’m pretty sure there’s a stamp waiting for me there.

Lately though, my focus has been on adjusting to fatherhood. My wife, Ashley, and I added our first addition to our family, a little girl named Eve, on May the 7th. I’m excited since now I have someone to begin sharing my enjoyment of all things Lovecraft (see picture). Ashley just shakes her head at me, but I think she’s probably a Mi-Go spy."

Lovecraft Craft Love!

• June 4, 2017

Thanks to those who attended the first-ever Lovecraft Craft Love event, focusing on prop documents. Props are magical items, existing in two dimensions simultaneously as the physical relics of imaginary experiences. A brave group gathered at headquarters to listen to Andrew drone on about vintage office supplies and the history of ephemera, and to get their hands dirty making actual prop vintage passports. Everyone got a custom-made 1920s passport photo of themselves, learned some tips for cutting perfectly straight lines and how to operate the mangler and other gizmos, and went home with a prop vintage British or US passport. It was a lot of fun, so we'll be doing it again!

Visiting Dignitary

• May 25, 2017

HPLHS global headquarters received yet another high-profile visitor. Darrell Tutchton (above right, with Sean Branney), illustrator extraordinaire who has done the covers of all episodes of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre was in town from his home in Savannah, and brought along the newest art for the upcoming episode "The Haunter of the Dark". Darrell is one of the co-founders of the Society, and is the guy responsible for introducing Branney and Leman to H.P. Lovecraft back in the mid-1980s. Darrell was also the original Professor Nathaniel Ward, a character who has appeared in many HPLHS productions over the years.

Haunter Recorded!

• May 22, 2017

The next episode of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, "The Haunter of the Dark", is now recorded and in post-production! Above is a view of sound engineer Julian Beeston (left) and Sean Branney sitting at the controls, while in the recording booth, left to right, are Jacob Lyle, Barry Lynch and Kevin Stidham. In the picture below, Julian adjusts microphones for Casey Kramer, who previously appeared in "The Dunwich Horror", and Kevin.

Visiting Dignitary

• May 9, 2017

HPLHS global headquarters was graced today by a visit from Josie DiVincenzo, former Shipping Shoggoth. Josie used to screen t-shirts and prepare Dark Adventure Radio Theatre jewel cases, and can be heard on the A Shoggoth on the Roof cast album as Lavinia Whateley. She was also on the crew of The Whisperer in Darkness, doing some amazing scenic painting. Now an actor, painter and teacher in her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., she dropped in to check out her new old stomping grounds, and we were glad to see her!

Featured Member

• May 6, 2017

Our Member of the Month for May 2017 is Sophie "SoMK" Klesen of Sherbrooke, Quebec, near Montreal. With her husband Alex, So describes herself as a "two-headed entity", which should not surprise anyone from this group, really. One head (Alex) is a translator by day and gamer by night. The other (Sophie) is artist by day and night. Both heads have a similar background: their love for science fiction and horror goes way back to their childhoods. It was nurtured by movies but started with books: HPL's among them. We asked Sophie and Alex which book started it all and how they began reading Lovecraft.

Alex: "Always been fascinated by SF/Fantasy genre, starships and Jules Vernes. The very first book I bought was Tintin's Explorers of the Moon, when I was about 7. I remember that years later my mum thought it was a good idea to get me some 'real' SF books for my 11th birthday since I loved SF so much. So I got The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man and that was that. I first read Lovecraft when I was 16 years old. I remember it was "The Shadow over Innsmouth" and I read it during the summer holidays with friends on the Brittany coast. We were camping near some cliffs overlooking the sea, reading until dusk to the sound of the crashing waves… and as an added difficulty, we were three friends who wanted to read the same book (which also included Charles Dexter Ward) at the same time! We were lucky to have good translations of Lovecraft's novels, be they French or German."

So: "My grandmother read me some Tolkien when I was very young but as far as I remember, I think that the first book I bought with pocket money was a Zelazny. I came to Lovecraft during my reading bulimia that started around 12 or 13 years old. I bought and read everything I could find about science fiction and horror. It was shortly after the first Alien movie, definitively my turning point. I totally fell into it and I didn't look back ever since :p "

We asked them if Lovecraft directly influences their actual work.

Alex: "I am a translator, and mainly for the game industry so yes, I frequently use or come across references. Lovecraft's mythos is a pillar on which a lot of worlds are built. What fascinates me in Lovecraft's novels is that moment when the limitation of the human mind makes the perception of the protagonist — and that of the reader — jump back and forth between horror and fascination. So, the Elder Things, the Great Race of Yith or the Fungi from Yuggoth totally fascinate me. (…and the way HPLHS brought 'The Whisperer' to its logical conclusion, it was really excellent!)"

So: "It is a sort of background task, something I go back to again and again. A few years ago it was mainly through jewelry and more recently with illuminated manuscripts, but there is always something brewing. My favourite story still is "At the Mountains of Madness" (for the both of us), mainly because of the setting itself (South Pole ! Could as well be Mars!) but also the sculptures and the Elder Things themselves. I have a fascination for this alien species, their art, their society. They are not malevolent, they are different. That is the part I love. Not quite sure about the idea that something wants to come back and eat us but I don't need reminders that we as a species don't count for much in this universe XD"

In the slideshow above are a couple of pictures of the gorgeous jewelry that So and Alex have made, and you can check out more of their past work at this link. You can see Sophie's illuminated manuscripts and other current work at Sophie's website.

Call of Cthulhu Game Night!

• UPDATED May 12, 2017

The inaugural Call of Cthulhu gaming session at the new HPLHS headquarters was a success! Thanks to those who participated, pictured above shortly before half of them died horribly. Thanks also to our friends at Chaosium for sending along some great swag for the players to take home, including copies of the Call of Cthulhu Coloring Book and rulebooks for Pulp Cthulhu, and our old buddy Bryan Moore for donating some posters from his film Cool Air. And as you'll see in the photo, our players enjoyed some libations from our friends at Narraganset Brewing Company.

New HPLHS Headquarters

• April 29, 2017

We were very happy to host an open house at the new HPLHS global headquarters at 1644 Victory Blvd. in Glendale, CA. It was a great mix of members, fans, colleagues and artists, and even some curious people who came in off the street. The Narraganset Brewing Company very generously donated some of their Lovecraftian beers, including Unnamable Black Lager, and Leslie Baldwin prepared a delightful sundae bar in honor of one of HPL's favorite foods. Some HPLHS members drove for hours to attend in person, and it was wonderful to meet them! Thanks so much to all who attended, and who brought some fascinating items to show and tell. Our new headquarters now feels very much like home, and we look forward to getting down to business producing more fun Lovecraftian entertainments there.

If you missed the Open House, don't despair. Now that we have a proper storefront, we'll be open to the public on weekdays and you can come on by! Hours are to be finally determined, but we're usually here between 9 and 5....

The Haunter of the Dark

• April 19, 2017

We are extremely happy to announce that the next episode of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre will be Lovecraft's classic tale "The Haunter of the Dark". The show is currently in the works, and we anticipate the CDs and downloads will be shipping by the end of June. We're happy to be adding a new writer to the DART creative team: Stephen Woodworth is joining Sean and Andrew in crafting the script of this episode. The indefatigable Reber Clark, who worked last on the music for "Dagon: War of Worlds" will return to write the original musical score.

The Alert ships out

• April 13, 2017

Among the treasures recently raffled off to help raise funds for the H.P.Lovecraft Providence Statue project was the original model of the Alert used in the HPLHS motion picture "The Call of Cthulhu". To prepare it for shipment we had to disassemble the delicate rigging and superstructure, but it is now on its way to Drumheller in Canada. We loved the Alert and will miss having her around. She was the only thing that could even temporarily beat Cthulhu himself. We wish her bon voyage.

Sarah & Kevin

• April 5, 2017

The HPLHS congratulates Kevin Stidham, our indefatigable Shipping Shoggoth, and Sarah Van der Pol on their marriage! Dark Adventure Radio Theatre fans have heard their voices in several episodes: most recently Kevin played Baron Hauptman and Sarah played Jenny Alexander in "The Brotherhood of the Beast". We hope you'll join us in wishing them the very best!

Featured Member

• April 3, 2017

Our Member of the Month for April 2017 is Nathan Shelton of Chicago, Illinois. Nathan is originally from southwest Missouri but has lived and worked as an actor/writer/director/ and special effects makeup artist for film, TV, and theatre in Chicago, IL since 2013. He has worked on many projects throughout the country and in May of 2017 he will be returning to his home town of Springfield, MO to take over as Artistic Director of the Springfield Contemporary Theatre.

Nathan says: "I've been obsessed with horror since I was four years old and I watched Michael Jackson's Thriller and the Making. I knew from that point on I wanted to be an actor and SFX makeup artist like Lon Chaney (who I found in my dad's old Famous Monsters of Film Land Magazines). My dad is a massive fan of Lovecraft and he used to tell me long and intricate tales about the man and his mythos way before I was old enough to read his stories. I read my first Lovecraft story in third grade ("Pickman's Model") and it was clear that my dad's passion for cosmic horror would run throughout my life as well... and hopefully on to infect my children. After all... the family that worships the Elder Gods together, stays together... until they return of course. :)

I grew up writing horror stories, comic books, and films with my twin brother. Life consisted of hosting monster clubs, drawing pics of monsters and hanging them all over the house, and watching old Universal Horror Films with my dad. It was inevitable that I would get into the theatre and eventually film. I love performing and creating monsters for movies and stage but it got to the point that if I really wanted to do the kind of work I wanted, I would have to write and direct as well. So I started down those paths and wound up writing my first feature film towards the end of college. It was a Lovecraftian horror-comedy called Unspeakable. It did very well at some script festivals but I was never able to get the budget together to make the damn thing... so my brother and I set out to turn it into a motion comic online. We are currently working on this project and hope to have it up and running by the end of 2017.

My love affair with Lovecraft led me to create my production company, Arcane, in Springfield, MO. We started out producing horror pieces for the stage as well as short films. Then I wrote a script treatment that we decided would work best if we broke it down into episodes and released it as a web series. We produced the web series in 2012 and it went on to win international acclaim at festivals all over. We couldn't believe we had pulled it off! It is a Black and White, Lovecraftian-horror, Silent web series entitled Shadow Bound. The series was set in 1931 and produced on a shoestring budget with local Missouri filmmakers and a friend in Los Angeles helping with the score. Being black and white and silent had set it up for a limited niche following but we knew that going in, and wanted to make the series for people like us who love the works of H.P.L and their themes. A feature film version of the series is now in post production and we actually just had a showing of the series two weeks back (the anniversary of Lovecraft's Death) at a great horror record/book store in Chicago called Bucket of Blood Books and Records. If you are in the area check them out! They do many great events and support local Chicago horror/sci-fi/fantasy themed artists! The success of Shadow Bound has me plotting and scheming for more fun Lovecraftian, horror, and twisted projects for the near future as well.

If you would like to check out Shadow Bound, all five episodes are available online at shadowboundseries.com as well as YouTube. And you can find more of my work as an actor and effects artist at my personal site. I'm always up for collaborating with other Horror and Lovecraft Fanatics so hit me up and lets create something dark and sinister!"

R'lyeh Rises Again

• March 29, 2017

In the recent move of the HPLHS headquarters to its new location, we have been dusting off some old items that have been in storage for years. Today we took a new look at the miniature of R'lyeh from our motion picture of The Call of Cthulhu. We won't be able to continue storing it in our new space, but before it sinks below the waves for the last time our friend Jeff Amaral came in to take some special stereoscopic photos of it. It might be some time before we're able to share those images, but here's a snapshot of Jeff at work and of the model.

Remembering H.P.L.

• UPDATED March 29, 2017

As we observed the 80th anniversary of Lovecraft's death, we endeavored to contribute to his memory in a special way. Several years ago we produced a special edition of the Lovecraft bust sculpted by our very talented friend Bryan Moore of Arkham Studios. Our version puts Bryan's sculpture atop a base inspired by Lovecraft's tombstone. We experimented with different colors and finishes, and in the process cast two copies in black polyurethane as artist's proofs. We didn't do any production casts in black, and those two black casts were the only ones ever made. One exciting day Guillermo del Toro paid a visit to our shop, and he purchased one of the black HPL busts for his personal collection. We raffled off the other black HPL bust and donated all the proceeds to support The H.P. Lovecraft Providence Statue Project. Providence artist Gage Prentiss is working on a larger-than-life scale bronze statue of Lovecraft to go on permanent public display in Providence. We think it's a grand idea and to support the project, we're donating all funds from this and future raffles to support it. Whether or not you win the raffle drawing, if you buy a ticket, you're supporting a worthwhile cause.

UPDATE: Below is video of the raffle drawing. The winner was Mark Miller.

UPDATE #2: Congrats to Kasey Lee, the winner of the raffle for the copper Alert Idol.

UPDATE #3: Congrats to Kurt Phillips, the winner of the raffle for the original model of the Alert.

We will be raffling more unique items in the weeks ahead, including props from our films. Tickets are (or will be) available in our online store. (If the link isn't working it's because we're currently updating it.)